Review: Red Racer ESB (Central City Brewing)

You know it's a good day when you go to the Liquor store and find a beer you did not expect to be in stock. In this case, Central City's Red Racer Extra Special Bitter. I was told by their Twitter peeps that their beer wouldn't be back in Manitoba market anytime soon. Well, I went to the liquor store last weekend and low and behold, there was the ESB! I was excited.

Central City's Red Racer line is very solid, always a treat. Their India Pale Ale isn't available in Manitoba for now, but the ESB is for the meantime (until it sells out). It sells for $2.50 for a 355mL can and has ABV of 5.6% - so middle of the road.

Aroma: Welcome to Hop City! This is quite a hoppy brew, which is quite mouthwatering! It's a bit nutty, citrusy and overall - a delight! The citrus mainly consists of a lot of grapefruit and some lemon zest.

Taste: Quite a bitter ESB. I love this, so much that I wish I bought more. It's incredibly hoppy, so if you're a hops lover like I am - you will enjoy this. It's quite grapefruity, and a bit of a hint of lemon. The bitterness of the hops sticks to your palate for quite a while.

Overall Thoughts: Red Racer ESB is exactly what the name states, extra special bitter. If you like a bitter hoppy beer, you will quite enjoy this. The grapefruit citrusy zing is a nice sweetness that compliments the bitterness. I think you should get it, even if you are a bit scared of hops. A can of hops never hurt anyone!

Edit: The ESB won Gold at the 2012 World Beer Cup (Extra Bitter category) this weekend. If this review doesn't influence you to try the ESB, then what will?!

Cody Lobreau

Welcome to BeerCrank.ca! I'm a bit obsessed about craft beer, especially Canadian craft beer so I mainly review Canadian beer but I love to try beer from all over the world as well. My goal is to help influence the casual beer drinker to go out and expand their beer palate one way or another. Feel free to send some feedback!
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